document_title: List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones

question_text: who had the most number one radio songs in history

question_tokens: who had the most number one radio songs in history

text: List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones

text: All-Time Hot 100 achievements (1958–2018)

text: In 2008, for the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100, Billboard magazine compiled a ranking of the 100 best-performing songs on the chart over the 50 years, along with the best-performing artists.[1][2] In 2013, Billboard revised the rankings for the chart's 55th anniversary edition.[3] In 2015, Billboard revised the rankings again.[4] In 2018, the rankings were revised again for the Billboard chart's 60th anniversary.[5] Shown below are the top 10 songs and top 10 artists over the 60-year period of the Hot 100, through July 2018. Also shown are the artists placing the most songs on the overall "all-time" top 100 song list.

text: Top 10 songs of All-Time (1958–2018)

text:
Rank

Single

Year(s) released

Artist(s)

Peak and duration

1.

"The Twist"

1960, 1961*

Chubby Checker

#1 for 3 weeks

2.

"Smooth"

1999

Santana featuring Rob Thomas

#1 for 12 weeks

3.

"Mack the Knife"

1959

Bobby Darin

#1 for 9 weeks

4.

"Uptown Funk"

2015

Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

#1 for 14 weeks

5.

"How Do I Live"

1997

LeAnn Rimes

#2 for 4 weeks

6.

"Party Rock Anthem"

2011

LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock

#1 for 6 weeks

7.

"I Gotta Feeling"

2009

The Black Eyed Peas

#1 for 14 weeks

8.

"Macarena (Bayside Boys mix)"

1996

Los Del Rio

#1 for 14 weeks

9.

"Shape of You"

2017

Ed Sheeran

#1 for 12 weeks

10.

"Physical"

1981

Olivia Newton-John

#1 for 10 weeks

text:
* – re-released
Source:[6]

text: Top 10 Hot 100 artists of All-Time (1958–2018)

text:
Rank

Artist

1.

The Beatles

2.

Madonna

3.

Elton John

4.

Elvis Presley

5.

Mariah Carey

6.

Stevie Wonder

7.

Janet Jackson

8.

Michael Jackson

9.

Whitney Houston

10.

Rihanna

text: Artists with the most songs on Billboard's Top 100 Hits of All-Time (1958–2018)

text:
Number of  songs

Artist

Songs (ranking)

3

Lionel Richie

"Endless Love" (18), "Say You, Say Me" (94), "All Night Long" (96)

Boyz II Men

"I'll Make Love to You" (22), "One Sweet Day" (38), "End of the Road" (55)

Bee Gees

"How Deep Is Your Love" (25), "Night Fever" (42), "Stayin' Alive" (59)

Paul McCartney

"Silly Love Songs" (40), "Say Say Say" (44), "Ebony and Ivory" (76)

2

Bruno Mars

"Uptown Funk" (4), "Just the Way You Are" (82)

The Black Eyed Peas

"I Gotta Feeling" (7), "Boom Boom Pow" (56)

Ed Sheeran

"Shape of You" (9), "Perfect" (91)

The Beatles

"Hey Jude" (12), "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (48)

Mariah Carey

"We Belong Together" (14), "One Sweet Day" (38)

Diana Ross

"Endless Love" (18), "Upside Down" (80)

Andy Gibb

"I Just Want to Be Your Everything" (29), "Shadow Dancing" (49)

Marvin Gaye

"Let's Get It On" (41), "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (84)

Michael Jackson

"Say Say Say" (44), "Billie Jean" (86)

Pharrell Williams

"Blurred Lines" (51), "Happy" (79)

Elton John

"Candle In the Wind 1997" (52), "That's What Friends Are For" (78)

Stevie Wonder

"Ebony and Ivory" (76), "That's What Friends Are For" (78)

text: Song milestones

text: Most weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100

text:
Number of  weeks

Artist(s)

Song

Year(s)

16

Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men

"One Sweet Day"

1995–96

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber

"Despacito"

2017

14

Whitney Houston

"I Will Always Love You"

1992–93

Boyz II Men

"I'll Make Love to You"

1994

Los del Río

"Macarena" (Bayside Boys mix)

1996

Elton John

"Candle in the Wind 1997" /  "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"

1997

Mariah Carey

"We Belong Together"

2005

The Black Eyed Peas

"I Gotta Feeling"

2009

Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

"Uptown Funk"

2015

13

Boyz II Men

"End of the Road"

1992

Brandy and Monica

"The Boy Is Mine"

1998

12

Santana featuring Rob Thomas

"Smooth"

1999–2000

Eminem

"Lose Yourself"

2002–03

Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris

"Yeah!"

2004

The Black Eyed Peas

"Boom Boom Pow"

2009

Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell

"Blurred Lines"

2013

Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth

"See You Again"

2015

The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey

"Closer"

2016

Ed Sheeran

"Shape of You"

2017

11

All-4-One

"I Swear"

1994

Toni Braxton

"Un-Break My Heart"

1996–97

Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112

"I'll Be Missing You"

1997

Destiny's Child

"Independent Women Part I"

2000–01

Drake

"God's Plan"

2018

10

Debby Boone

"You Light Up My Life"

1977

Olivia Newton-John

"Physical"

1981–82

Santana featuring The Product G&B

"Maria Maria"

2000

Ashanti

"Foolish"

2002

Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland

"Dilemma"

Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx

"Gold Digger"

2005

Beyoncé

"Irreplaceable"

2006–07

Flo Rida featuring T-Pain

"Low"

2008

Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris

"We Found Love"

2011–12

Pharrell Williams

"Happy"

2014

Adele

"Hello"

2015–16

Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla

"One Dance"

2016

Drake

"In My Feelings"

2018

text: Pre-Hot 100 Notes:

text:
In 1956, Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel" was number 1 on the "Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played in Jukeboxes" charts for 11 weeks.
In 1955, The McGuire Sisters' "Sincerely" was number 1 on the "Most Played by Jockeys" chart for 10 weeks.
In 1955, Pérez Prado's "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" was number 1 on the "Best Sellers in Stores" chart for 10 weeks.

text: Most weeks at number two (without hitting number one)

text:
Number of  weeks

Artist(s)

Song

Year(s)

Kept off of number-one by

10

Foreigner

"Waiting for a Girl Like You"

1981–82

"Physical" (Olivia Newton-John), "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (Hall & Oates) [9]

Missy Elliott

"Work It"

2002–03

"Lose Yourself" (Eminem) [10]

9

Donna Lewis

"I Love You Always Forever"

1996

"Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)" (Los del Río) [11]

Shania Twain

"You're Still the One"

1998

"Too Close" (Next),[12] "The Boy Is Mine" (Brandy and Monica) [10]

8

Shai

"If I Ever Fall in Love"

1992–93

"I Will Always Love You" (Whitney Houston)

Deborah Cox

"Nobody's Supposed to Be Here"

1998–99

"I'm Your Angel" (R. Kelly featuring Celine Dion), "Have You Ever?" (Brandy)

Brian McKnight

"Back at One"

1999–2000

"Smooth" (Santana featuring Rob Thomas) [10]

Mario Winans featuring Enya and P. Diddy

"I Don't Wanna Know"

2004

"Yeah!" (Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris), "Burn" (Usher)

Ed Sheeran

"Thinking Out Loud"

2015

"Uptown Funk!" (Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars) [10]

text: Most total weeks in the top ten

text: The following songs have spent 26 or more weeks in the top ten.

text:
Number of  weeks

Artist(s)

Song

Year(s)

Source

33

Ed Sheeran

"Shape of You"

2017

[14]

32

LeAnn Rimes

"How Do I Live"

1997–98

[14]

The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey

"Closer"

2016–17

[14]

31

Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

"Uptown Funk"

2014–15

[14]

30

Santana featuring Rob Thomas

"Smooth"

1999–2000

[14]

29

LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock

"Party Rock Anthem"

2011–12

[14]

28

Jewel

"Foolish Games" / "You Were Meant for Me"

1997–98

[14]

Bruno Mars

"That's What I Like"

2017

[14]

27

Ed Sheeran

"Perfect"

2017–18

[15]

26

Savage Garden

"Truly Madly Deeply"

1997–98

[14]

Drake

"God's Plan"

2018

[16]

text: Most total weeks on the Hot 100

text:
87 weeks – Imagine Dragons – "Radioactive" (2014)
79 weeks – Awolnation – "Sail" (2014)
76 weeks – Jason Mraz – "I'm Yours" (2009)
69 weeks – LeAnn Rimes – "How Do I Live" (1998)
68 weeks – LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock – "Party Rock Anthem" (2012), OneRepublic – "Counting Stars" (2014)
65 weeks – Jewel – "Foolish Games" / "You Were Meant for Me" (1998), Adele – "Rolling in the Deep" (2012)
64 weeks – Carrie Underwood – "Before He Cheats" (2007)
62 weeks – Lifehouse – "You and Me" (2006), The Lumineers – "Ho Hey" (2013)

text: Note: The year displayed is the year the songs ended their respective chart runs.

text: Source: [17]

text: Number-one debuts

text:
Michael Jackson – "You Are Not Alone" (September 2, 1995)
Mariah Carey – "Fantasy" (September 30, 1995)
Whitney Houston – "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" (November 25, 1995)
Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men – "One Sweet Day" (December 2, 1995)
Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112 – "I'll Be Missing You" (June 14, 1997)
Mariah Carey – "Honey" (September 13, 1997)
Elton John – "Candle in the Wind 1997" / "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" (October 11, 1997)
Celine Dion – "My Heart Will Go On" (February 28, 1998)
Aerosmith – "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (September 5, 1998)
Lauryn Hill – "Doo Wop (That Thing)" (November 14, 1998)
Clay Aiken – "This Is the Night" (June 28, 2003)
Fantasia Barrino – "I Believe" (July 10, 2004)
Carrie Underwood – "Inside Your Heaven" (July 2, 2005)
Taylor Hicks – "Do I Make You Proud" (July 1, 2006)
Britney Spears – "3" (October 24, 2009)
Eminem – "Not Afraid" (May 22, 2010)
Kesha – "We R Who We R" (November 13, 2010)
Britney Spears – "Hold It Against Me" (January 29, 2011)
Lady Gaga – "Born This Way" (February 26, 2011)
Katy Perry – "Part of Me" (March 3, 2012)
Baauer – "Harlem Shake" (March 2, 2013)
Taylor Swift – "Shake It Off" (September 6, 2014)
Justin Bieber – "What Do You Mean?" (September 19, 2015)
Adele – "Hello" (November 14, 2015)
Zayn Malik – "Pillowtalk" (February 20, 2016)
Justin Timberlake – "Can't Stop the Feeling!" (May 28, 2016)
Ed Sheeran – "Shape of You" (January 28, 2017)
DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne – "I'm the One" (May 20, 2017)
Drake – "God's Plan" (February 3, 2018)
Drake – "Nice for What" (April 21, 2018)
Childish Gambino – "This Is America" (May 19, 2018)

text: Since 2009, at least one song debuted at number one per year. In 1995, four songs debuted at number one (a record amount).

text: Biggest jump to number one

text:
97–1 – Kelly Clarkson – "My Life Would Suck Without You" (February 7, 2009)[19]
96–1 – Britney Spears – "Womanizer" (October 25, 2008)[20]
80–1 – T.I. featuring Rihanna – "Live Your Life" (October 18, 2008)[21]
78–1 – Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent – "Crack a Bottle" (February 21, 2009)[22]
77–1 – Taylor Swift – "Look What You Made Me Do" (September 16, 2017)[23]
72–1 – Taylor Swift – "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (September 1, 2012)[24]
71–1 – T.I. – "Whatever You Like" (September 6, 2008)[25]
64–1 – Maroon 5 – "Makes Me Wonder" (May 12, 2007)
60–1 – Rihanna featuring Drake – "What's My Name?" (November 20, 2010)[26]
58–1 – Flo Rida – "Right Round" (February 28, 2009)[27]

text: Biggest single-week upward movements

text:
97–1 (96 positions) – Kelly Clarkson – "My Life Would Suck Without You" (February 7, 2009)[28]
96–1 (95 positions) – Britney Spears – "Womanizer" (October 25, 2008)[29]
94–3 (91 positions) – Beyoncé and Shakira – "Beautiful Liar" (April 7, 2007)[30]
94–4 (90 positions) – Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B – "Girls Like You" (June 16, 2018)[31]
95–7 (88 positions) – Akon featuring Eminem – "Smack That" (October 14, 2006)[32]
97–9 (88 positions) – Drake featuring Nicki Minaj – "Make Me Proud" (November 5, 2011)[33]
96–11 (85 positions) – Carrie Underwood – "Cowboy Casanova" (October 10, 2009)[34]
100–15 (85 positions) – A. R. Rahman and Pussycat Dolls featuring Nicole Scherzinger – "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" (March 14, 2009)[35]
85–2 (83 positions) – Katy Perry – "Roar" (August 31, 2013)[36]
86–4 (82 positions) – Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron – "Breaking Free" (February 11, 2006)[37]
92–10 (82 positions) – Nicki Minaj – "Chun-Li" (April 28, 2018)[38]

text: Longest climbs to number one

text:
33rd week – Los del Río – "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)" (1995–96)[40]
31st week – Lonestar – "Amazed" (1999–2000)
30th week – John Legend – "All of Me" (2013–14)[41]
27th week – Creed – "With Arms Wide Open" (2000)
26th week – Vertical Horizon – "Everything You Want" (2000)
25th week – UB40 – "Red Red Wine" (1988)
23rd week – Patti Austin and James Ingram – "Baby, Come to Me" (1983), Sia featuring Sean Paul – "Cheap Thrills" (2016), Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug – "Havana" (2017–18)
22nd week – Vangelis – "Chariots of Fire" (1982), Lady Gaga featuring Colby O'Donis – "Just Dance" (2008–09)
21st week – Nick Gilder – "Hot Child in the City" (1978), Robert John – "Sad Eyes" (1979), Outkast – "The Way You Move" (2003–04), Adele – "Set Fire to the Rain" (2011–12)

text: Biggest drop from number one

text:
1–15 – Billy Preston – "Nothing from Nothing" (October 26, 1974)
1–15 – Dionne Warwicke and The Spinners – "Then Came You" (November 2, 1974)
1–12 – Simon & Garfunkel – "The Sound of Silence" (January 29, 1966)
1–12 – Barry White – "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" (September 28, 1974)
1–12 – Andy Kim – "Rock Me Gently" (October 5, 1974)
1–12 – Stevie Wonder – "You Haven't Done Nothin'" (November 9, 1974)
1–12 – Bachman–Turner Overdrive – "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (November 16, 1974)
1–12 – John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band – "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" (November 23, 1974)
1–11 – Diana Ross – "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" (January 31, 1976)
1–10 – Phil Collins – "Two Hearts" (February 4, 1989)

text: Biggest single-week downward movements

text:
17–96 (79 positions) – Javier Colon – "Stitch by Stitch" (July 23, 2011)[43]
21–99 (78 positions) – Jordan Smith – "Somebody to Love" (January 2, 2016)[44]
16–93 (77 positions) – 5 Seconds of Summer – "Amnesia" (July 26, 2014)[45]
17–92 (75 positions) – Justin Bieber – "Die in Your Arms" (June 23, 2012)[46]
17–91 (74 positions) – Lil Wayne – "Can't Be Broken" (October 20, 2018)[47]
23–96 (73 positions) – Colbie Caillat – "I Do" (March 5, 2011)[48]
21–94 (73 positions) – Justin Bieber – "Never Let You Go" (March 27, 2010)[49]
21–94 (73 positions) – Glee Cast – "Empire State of Mind" (October 16, 2010)[50]
16–89 (73 positions) – Jonas Brothers – "Pushin' Me Away" (August 9, 2008)[51]
13–86 (73 positions) – Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris featuring Charlie Sexton – "Hallelujah" (February 20, 2010)[52]

text: Biggest drops off the Hot 100

text:
From #4 – Prince and The Revolution – "Purple Rain"† (May 21, 2016)
From #8 – Prince – "When Doves Cry"† (May 21, 2016)
From #9 – Soko – "We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow" (April 5, 2014)[54]
From #11 – Jonas Brothers – "A Little Bit Longer" (August 30, 2008),[54][55] Taylor Swift – "Mean" (November 13, 2010),[56] One Direction – "Diana" (December 14, 2013),[57] Mariah Carey – "All I Want for Christmas is You" (January 16, 2016)††[58]
From #12 – Taylor Swift – "You Belong with Me"* (November 29, 2008),[59] Lady Gaga – "Hair" (June 11, 2011),[60] One Direction – "Midnight Memories" (December 14, 2013)[57]

text: † – "Purple Rain" and "When Doves Cry" reappeared on the Hot 100 for two weeks in 2016, and the above reflects their re-entries only. When the songs originally charted in 1984, their chart positions in their final week on the Hot 100 were well below the top 10.

text: †† – A recurring holiday song charting during the Christmas season.

text: * – "You Belong with Me" later re-entered the Hot 100 as a single in 2009 to reach a peak of #2. The recurring song's final week on the Hot 100 was in 2010, when it was low as possible on the chart.

text: Number-one songs covered by different artists

text:
"Go Away Little Girl" – Steve Lawrence (1963) and Donny Osmond (1971)
"The Loco-Motion" – Little Eva (1962) and Grand Funk (1974)
"Please Mr. Postman" – The Marvelettes (1961) and The Carpenters (1975)
"Venus" – Shocking Blue (1970) and Bananarama (1986)
"Lean on Me" – Bill Withers (1972) and Club Nouveau (1987)
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" – The Supremes (1966) and Kim Wilde (1987)
"When a Man Loves a Woman" – Percy Sledge (1966) and Michael Bolton (1991)
"I'll Be There" – The Jackson 5 (1970) and Mariah Carey (1992)
"Lady Marmalade" – Labelle (1975) and Christina Aguilera / Lil' Kim / Mýa / Pink (2001)

text: Non-English language number-ones

text:
"Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)" – Domenico Modugno (Italian – August 18, 1958 for five non-consecutive weeks)
"Sukiyaki" – Kyu Sakamoto (Japanese – June 15, 1963 for three weeks)
"Dominique" – The Singing Nun (French – December 7, 1963 for four weeks)
"Rock Me Amadeus" – Falco (English/German – March 29, 1986 for three weeks)
"La Bamba" – Los Lobos (Spanish – August 29, 1987 for three weeks)
"Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)" – Los del Río (English/Spanish – August 3, 1996 for fourteen weeks)
"Despacito" – Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber (English/Spanish – May 27, 2017 for sixteen weeks)

text: Instrumental number-ones

text:
"The Happy Organ" – Dave "Baby" Cortez (May 11, 1959 for one week)
"Sleep Walk" – Santo & Johnny (September 21, 1959 for two weeks)
"Theme from A Summer Place" – Percy Faith (February 22, 1960 for nine weeks)
"Wonderland by Night" – Bert Kaempfert (January 9, 1961 for three weeks)
"Calcutta" – Lawrence Welk (February 13, 1961 for two weeks)
"Stranger on the Shore" – Mr. Acker Bilk (May 26, 1962 for one week)
"The Stripper" – David Rose (July 7, 1962 for one week)
"Telstar" – The Tornados (December 22, 1962 for three weeks)
"Love Is Blue" – Paul Mauriat (February 10, 1968 for five weeks)
"Grazing in the Grass" – Hugh Masekela (July 20, 1968 for two weeks)
"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" – Henry Mancini (June 28, 1969 for two weeks)
"Frankenstein" – The Edgar Winter Group (May 26, 1973 for one week)
"Love's Theme" – Love Unlimited Orchestra (February 9, 1974 for one week)
"TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" – MFSB and The Three Degrees † (April 20, 1974 for two weeks)
"Pick Up the Pieces" – Average White Band † (February 22, 1975 for one week)
"The Hustle" – Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony † (July 26, 1975 for one week)
"Fly, Robin, Fly" – Silver Convention † (November 29, 1975 for three weeks)
"Theme from S.W.A.T." – Rhythm Heritage (February 28, 1976 for one week)
"A Fifth of Beethoven" – Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band (October 9, 1976 for one week)
"Gonna Fly Now" – Bill Conti † (July 2, 1977 for one week)
"Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" – Meco (October 1, 1977 for two weeks)
"Rise" – Herb Alpert (October 20, 1979 for two weeks)
"Chariots of Fire" – Vangelis (May 8, 1982 for one week)
"Miami Vice Theme" – Jan Hammer (November 9, 1985 for one week)
"Harlem Shake" – Baauer † (March 2, 2013 for five weeks)

text: † – Contains vocal part, but is considered an instrumental. See Instrumental#Borderline cases for more.

text: Artist achievements

text: Most number-one singles

text:
Number of singles

Artist

Biggest number-one†

20

The Beatles

"Hey Jude"[6]

18

Elvis Presley ‡

"Don't Be Cruel" / "Hound Dog"[64][65]

Mariah Carey

"We Belong Together"[6]

14

Rihanna

"We Found Love"[6]

13

Michael Jackson

"Say Say Say" (duet with Paul McCartney)[6]

12

The Supremes

"Love Child"[66]

Madonna

"Like a Virgin"[67]

11

Whitney Houston

"I Will Always Love You"[6]

10

Stevie Wonder

"Ebony and Ivory" (duet with Paul McCartney)[6]

Janet Jackson

"Miss You Much"[68]

text: † The biggest number-one listed by each artist reflects its overall performance on the Hot 100, as calculated by Billboard, and may not necessarily be the single which spent the most weeks at #1 for the artist, such as Madonna's "Like a Virgin" (six weeks at #1, compared to seven for "Take a Bow"), Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" (fourteen weeks at #1, compared to sixteen for her duet with Boyz II Men, "One Sweet Day") and Michael Jackson's duet with Paul McCartney, "Say Say Say" (six weeks at #1, compared to seven for both his solo singles "Billie Jean" and "Black or White").

text: ‡ Pre-Hot 100 charts and Hot 100.

text: Billboard now credits the dual #1 Presley single "Don't Be Cruel"/"Hound Dog" as a single chart entity, and credits Presley with 17 number one singles.[69] "Don't Be Cruel"/"Hound Dog" spent 11 weeks at #1, "Hound Dog" for 6 weeks, "Don't Be Cruel" for 5 weeks. Many chart statisticians however, such as Joel Whitburn, still list Presley as having 18 number ones.

text:
Source:[70][71]
[72][73]

text: Most cumulative weeks at number one

text:
Weeks at  number one

Artist

Source

79

Elvis Presley †

[69]

Mariah Carey

[74]

60

Rihanna

[74]

59

The Beatles

[74]

50

Boyz II Men

[74]

49

Drake

[75]

47

Usher

[74]

42

Beyoncé

[74]

37

Michael Jackson

[74]

34

Elton John

[74]

text: Most consecutive number-one singles

text:
Number of singles

Artist

First hit and date

Final hit and date

Streak-breaking song

7

Whitney Houston

"Saving All My Love for You" (October 26, 1985)

"Where Do Broken Hearts Go" (April 23, 1988)

"Love Will Save the Day" (#9 – August 27, 1988)

6

The Beatles

"I Feel Fine" (December 26, 1964)

"We Can Work It Out" (January 8, 1966)

"Nowhere Man" (#3 – March 26, 1966)

Bee Gees

"How Deep Is Your Love" (December 24, 1977)

"Love You Inside Out" (June 9, 1979)

"He's A Liar" (#30 – October 24, 1981)

5

Elvis Presley

"A Big Hunk o' Love" (August 10, 1959)

"Surrender" (March 20, 1961)

"I Feel So Bad" (#5 – May 1961)

The Supremes

"Where Did Our Love Go" (August 22, 1964)

"Back in My Arms Again" (June 12, 1965)

"Nothing but Heartaches" (#11 – September 4, 1965)

Michael Jackson

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"  (with Siedah Garrett) (September 19, 1987)

"Dirty Diana" (July 2, 1988)

"Another Part of Me" (#11 – September 10, 1988)

Mariah Carey

"Vision of Love" (August 4, 1990)

"Emotions" (October 12, 1991)

"Can't Let Go" (#2 – January 25, 1992)

"Fantasy" (September 30, 1995)

"My All" (May 23, 1998)

"When You Believe" (with Whitney Houston)(#15 – January 30, 1999)

Katy Perry

"California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg) (June 19, 2010)

"Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" (August 17, 2011)

"The One That Got Away" (#3 – January 7, 2012)

text: Sources:[76][77][78][79][80][81][81][82]

text: Most consecutive weeks simultaneously topping the Hot 100 and Billboard 200

text:
Number ofweeks
Artist
Year(s)charted
Singles
Albums

12
The Beatles
1964
"I Want to Hold Your Hand",  "She Loves You", "Can't Buy Me Love"
Meet the Beatles!,  The Beatles' Second Album

Whitney Houston
1992–93
"I Will Always Love You"
The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album

7
Michael Jackson
1983
"Billie Jean"
Thriller

Drake
2016
"One Dance" (featuring Wizkid and Kyla)
Views

The Monkees
1966–67
"I'm a Believer"
The Monkees, More of the Monkees

text: Most consecutive years charting a number-one single

text:
Number of years

Artist

First number-one hit and week

Final number-one hit and final week

11

Mariah Carey

"Vision of Love" (August 4, 1990)

"Thank God I Found You"  (February 19, 2000)

7

Elvis Presley †

"Heartbreak Hotel" (March 17, 1956)

"Good Luck Charm"  (April 28, 1962)

The Beatles

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" (February 1, 1964)

"The Long and Winding Road"  (June 20, 1970)

6

The Supremes

"Where Did Our Love Go" (August 22, 1964)

"Someday We'll Be Together"  (December 27, 1969)

Lionel Richie

"Endless Love" (August 15, 1981)

"Say You, Say Me"  (January 11, 1986)

text: † Pre-Hot 100 charts and Hot 100.

text: Most number-one singles in a calendar year

text:
Number ofsingles
Artist
Yearcharted
Singles

6
The Beatles
1964
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"

"She Loves You"

"Can't Buy Me Love"

"Love Me Do"

"A Hard Day's Night"

"I Feel Fine"

5
1965
"I Feel Fine"

"Eight Days a Week"

"Ticket to Ride"

"Help!"

"Yesterday"

4
Elvis Presley †
1956
"Heartbreak Hotel"

"I Want You, I Need You, I Love You"

"Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel"

"Love Me Tender"

1957
"Too Much"

"All Shook Up"

"(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear"

"Jailhouse Rock"

The Supremes
1965
"Come See About Me"

"Stop! In the Name of Love"

"Back in My Arms Again"

"I Hear a Symphony"

Jackson 5
1970
"I Want You Back"

"ABC"

"The Love You Save"

"I'll Be There"

George Michael
1988
"Faith"

"Father Figure"

"One More Try"

"Monkey"

Usher
2004
"Yeah!" (featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris)

"Burn"

"Confessions Part II"

"My Boo" (Duet with Alicia Keys)

Rihanna
2010
"Rude Boy"

"Love the Way You Lie" (Eminem featuring Rihanna)

"What's My Name?" (featuring Drake)

"Only Girl (In the World)"

text:
† Pre-Hot 100 charts.
Chart notes: If counting Presley's dual hit song "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog" separately then Elvis has 5 for 1956. Some Presley songs included here charted #1 on Cashbox, but not on the Billboard Top 100, the precursor to the Billboard Hot 100.

text: Most top 10 singles

text:
Number of  singles

Artist

Source

38

Madonna

[70]

36†

Elvis Presley

[90]

34

The Beatles

[70]

32

Drake

[91]

31

Rihanna

[92]

30

Michael Jackson

[91]

28

Stevie Wonder

[70]

Mariah Carey

[93]

27

Elton John

[70]

Janet Jackson

[70]

text: † This total includes Pre-Hot 100 charts and Hot 100. Elvis Presley's total for the Hot 100 top 10 singles is 25.[70]

text: Most consecutive weeks in the top 10

text:
Number of  weeks

Artist

Years  charted

Singles

69

Katy Perry

2010–11

"California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg)

"Teenage Dream"

"Firework"

"E.T." (featuring Kanye West)

"Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"

61

The Chainsmokers

2016–17

"Don't Let Me Down" (featuring Daya)

"Closer" (featuring Halsey)

"Paris"

"Something Just Like This" (with Coldplay)

51

Drake

2015–16

"Hotline Bling"

"Work" (Rihanna featuring Drake)

"Summer Sixteen"

"One Dance" (featuring Wizkid and Kyla)

48

Ace of Base

1993–94

"All That She Wants"

"The Sign"

"Don't Turn Around"

46

Rihanna

2010–11

"Love the Way You Lie" (Eminem featuring Rihanna)

"Only Girl (In the World)"

"What's My Name?" (featuring Drake)

"S&M"

text: Most top 10 debuts

text:
Number

Artist

Source

17

Drake

[91]

14

Taylor Swift

[98]

11

Eminem

[98]

Lil Wayne

[99]

8

Justin Bieber

[98]

6

Ariana Grande

[98]

Lady Gaga

[98]

Rihanna

[98]

text: Most top 40 singles

text:
Number
Artist
Source

93
Drake
[91]

81
Lil Wayne
[99]

80
Elvis Presley†
[100]

57
Elton John
[100]

56
Taylor Swift
[100]

51
Glee Cast
[100]

50
The Beatles
[100]

Rihanna
[100]

Nicki Minaj
[101]

49
Madonna
[100]

Jay-Z
[100]

Kanye West
[100]

text: † If his career before the Hot 100 inception is included, Presley is credited with 114 Top 40 entries.[71]

text: Most Hot 100 entries

text:
Entries

Artist

Source

207

Glee Cast

[102]

191

Drake

[91]

160

Lil Wayne

[103]

108

Elvis Presley †

[102]

99

Nicki Minaj

[104][105]

98

Jay-Z

[102]

93

Kanye West

[106]

91

James Brown

[102]

90

Chris Brown

[102]

77

Taylor Swift

[102]

text: † Elvis Presley's career predated the inception of the Hot 100 by two years. He has charted 149 singles on Billboard if tracking his entire career.

text: Most consecutive weeks on Hot 100

text: The artists with 150 or more consecutive weeks on the Hot 100:

text:
431 – Drake
326 – Lil Wayne
216 – Rihanna
207 – Nicki Minaj
166 – Future
161 – Chris Brown
159 – Jay-Z
152 – Nelly
150 – Justin Bieber

text: Self-replacement at number one

text:
The Beatles † – "I Want to Hold Your Hand" → "She Loves You" (March 21, 1964); "She Loves You" → "Can't Buy Me Love" (April 4, 1964)
Boyz II Men – "I'll Make Love to You" → "On Bended Knee" (December 3, 1994)
Puff Daddy – "I'll Be Missing You" (Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112) → "Mo Money Mo Problems" (The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy and Mase) (August 30, 1997)
Ja Rule – "Always on Time" (Ja Rule featuring Ashanti) → "Ain't It Funny" (Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule) (March 9, 2002)
Nelly – "Hot in Herre" → "Dilemma" (Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland) (August 17, 2002)
OutKast – "Hey Ya!" → "The Way You Move" (OutKast featuring Sleepy Brown) (February 14, 2004)
Usher – "Yeah!" (Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris) → "Burn" (May 22, 2004); "Burn" → "Confessions Part II" (July 24, 2004)
T.I. – "Whatever You Like" → "Live Your Life" (T.I. featuring Rihanna) (October 18, 2008); "Whatever You Like" → "Live Your Life" (November 15, 2008)
The Black Eyed Peas – "Boom Boom Pow" → "I Gotta Feeling" (July 11, 2009)
Taylor Swift – "Shake It Off" → "Blank Space" (November 29, 2014)
The Weeknd – "Can't Feel My Face" → "The Hills" (October 3, 2015)
Justin Bieber – "Sorry" → "Love Yourself" (February 13, 2016); "I'm the One" (DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne) → "Despacito" (Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber) (May 27, 2017)
Drake – "God's Plan" → "Nice for What" (April 21, 2018); "Nice for What" → "In My Feelings" (July 21, 2018)

text: † The Beatles are the only act in history to have three consecutive, self-replacing #1s.

text: Simultaneously occupying the top two positions

text: Elvis Presley: October 20 – November 3, 1956 (Pre-Hot 100 charts)

text:
"Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel"
"Love Me Tender" ("Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played by Jockeys" charts)

tag: ol

text: The Beatles: From February 22, 1964 until April 25, 1964 the Beatles held the top two positions, with various singles. In some of the weeks, the band held the top three or top four slots, the only act in chart history to do so. On April 4, 1964, The Beatles occupied the entire top five.[109]

text:
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Twist and Shout"
"She Loves You"
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
"Please Please Me"

text: Bee Gees: March 18 – April 15, 1978

text:
"Night Fever"
"Stayin' Alive"

text: Puff Daddy: August 9–30, 1997

text:
"I'll Be Missing You" (Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112)
"Mo Money Mo Problems" (The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy and Mase)

text: Ja Rule: March 9–23, 2002

text:
"Ain't It Funny"  (Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule)
"Always on Time" (Ja Rule featuring Ashanti)

text: Ashanti: April 20 – May 18, 2002

text:
"Foolish"
"What's Luv?" (Fat Joe featuring Ashanti)

text: Nelly: August 10–31, 2002

text:
"Hot in Herre"
"Dilemma" (Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland, songs switched positions on August 17, 2002)

text: OutKast: December 20, 2003 – February 7, 2004

text:
"Hey Ya!"
"The Way You Move" (OutKast featuring Sleepy Brown)

text: Usher: June 26 – July 3, 2004; July 17, 2004

text:
"Burn"
"Confessions Part II"

text: 50 Cent: April 16–30, 2005

text:
"Candy Shop" (50 Cent featuring Olivia)
"Hate It or Love It" (The Game featuring 50 Cent)

text: Mariah Carey: September 10, 2005

text:
"We Belong Together"
"Shake It Off"

text: Akon:

text: December 2, 2006

text:
"I Wanna Love You" (Akon featuring Snoop Dogg)
"Smack That" (Akon featuring Eminem)

text: April 14, 2007

text:
"Don't Matter"
"The Sweet Escape" (Gwen Stefani featuring Akon)

text: T.I.: October 18, 2008; November 1–29, 2008

text:
"Live Your Life" (T.I. featuring Rihanna)
"Whatever You Like" (songs switched positions several times)

text: Black Eyed Peas: June 27[110] – July 18, 2009[111]

text:
"Boom Boom Pow"
"I Gotta Feeling" (songs switched positions on July 11, 2009)

text: Pharrell Williams: June 29[112] – July 27, 2013

text:
"Blurred Lines" (Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell)
"Get Lucky" (Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams)

text: Iggy Azalea: June 7[113] – July 5, 2014[114][115][116][117]

text:
"Fancy" (Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX)
"Problem" (Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea)

text: The Weeknd: September 26, 2015[118]

text:
"Can't Feel My Face"
"The Hills"

text: Justin Bieber:

text: February 6–13, 2016[119][120]

text:
"Sorry"
"Love Yourself" (songs switched positions on February 13, 2016)

text: July 1–22, 2017[121][122][123][124]

text:
"Despacito" (Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber)
"I'm the One" (DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne)

text: Drake:

text: April 21–May 5, 2018[92][38][125]

text:
"Nice for What"
"God's Plan"

text: July 14, 2018[91]

text:
"Nice for What"
"Nonstop"

text: Simultaneously three or more singles in the top 10

text:
The Beatles: February 29 – May 2, 1964 (Note: The Beatles had as many as five in the top ten April 4–11, 1964)
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
"She Loves You"
"Please Please Me"
"Twist and Shout"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Do You Want to Know a Secret"
The Bee Gees: February 25 – March 4, 1978
"How Deep Is Your Love"
"Stayin' Alive"
"Night Fever"
Ashanti: March 30 – April 6, 2002
"Always On Time" (Ja Rule featuring Ashanti)
"What's Luv?" (Fat Joe featuring Ashanti)
"Foolish"
50 Cent:
May 31 – June 7, 2003
"In Da Club"
"21 Questions" (50 Cent featuring Nate Dogg)
"Magic Stick" (Lil' Kim featuring 50 Cent)
February 19 – April 30, 2005; May 14–21, 2005 (Note: 50 Cent had as many as four in the top ten April 2–9, 2005)
"Disco Inferno"
"How We Do" (The Game featuring 50 Cent)
"Candy Shop" (50 Cent featuring Olivia)
"Hate It or Love It" (The Game featuring 50 Cent)
"Just a Lil Bit"
Usher: June 5 – July 10, 2004
"Yeah!" (Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris)
"Burn"
"Confessions Part II"
Akon: May 5, 2007 and May 19, 2007
"The Sweet Escape" (Gwen Stefani featuring Akon)
"Don't Matter"
"I Tried" (Bone Thugs-n-Harmony featuring Akon)
T-Pain: November 3 – December 29, 2007 (Note: All four titles below were in the top ten November 24 – December 8, 2007)
"Good Life" (Kanye West featuring T-Pain)
"Cyclone" (Baby Bash featuring T-Pain)
"Kiss Kiss" (Chris Brown featuring T-Pain)
"Low" (Flo Rida featuring T-Pain)
Chris Brown: April 5, 2008 and May 10, 2008 (Note: The first two titles below were in the top ten on both charts)
"With You"
"No Air" (Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown)
"Shawty Get Loose" (Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown & T-Pain)
"Forever"
Lil Wayne:
September 27, 2008
"Got Money" (Lil Wayne featuring T-Pain)
"Can't Believe It" (T-Pain featuring Lil Wayne)
"Swagga Like Us" (Jay-Z & T.I. featuring Kanye West & Lil Wayne)
October 13, 2018[103] (Note: All four titles below were in the top ten October 13, 2018)
"Mona Lisa" (Lil Wayne featuring Kendrick Lamar)
"Don't Cry" (Lil Wayne featuring XXXTentacion)
"Uproar"
"Let It Fly" (Lil Wayne featuring Travis Scott)
Adele: March 3, 2012
"Rolling in the Deep"
"Someone Like You"
"Set Fire to the Rain"
Iggy Azalea: August 30, 2014[126]
"Fancy" (Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX)
"Problem" (Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea)
"Black Widow" (Iggy Azalea featuring Rita Ora)
Ariana Grande: August 30, 2014
"Problem" (Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea)
"Bang Bang" (Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj)
"Break Free" (Ariana Grande featuring Zedd)
Justin Bieber: December 5, 2015 – February 6, 2016[127]
"What Do You Mean?"
"Sorry"
"Love Yourself"
The Chainsmokers: March 18, 2017[128]
"Closer" (The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey)
"Paris"
"Something Just Like This" (The Chainsmokers and Coldplay)
Cardi B: January 6–27, 2018[129][130][131] (Note: The first two titles below were in the top ten January 6–27, 2018)
"No Limit" (G-Eazy featuring ASAP Rocky & Cardi B)
"MotorSport" (Migos, Nicki Minaj & Cardi B)
"Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)"
"Finesse" (Bruno Mars & Cardi B)
Drake:
April 14–June 9, 2018[132][92][38][125][133][134][15][135][136](Note: Titles have varied throughout the weeks mentioned)
"God's Plan"
"Look Alive" (BlocBoy JB featuring Drake)
"Walk It Talk It" (Migos featuring Drake)
"Nice for What"
"Yes Indeed" (Lil Baby and Drake)
July 14–28, 2018[91][137][16](Note: Drake had as many as seven in the top ten July 14, 2018)
"Nice for What"
"Nonstop"
"God's Plan"
"In My Feelings"
"I'm Upset"
"Emotionless"
"Don't Matter to Me" (Drake featuring Michael Jackson)
J. Cole: May 5, 2018[125]
"ATM"
"Kevin's Heart"
"KOD"
Post Malone: May 12, 2018[133]
"Psycho" (Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla Sign)
"Better Now"
"Rockstar" (Post Malone featuring 21 Savage)

text: Posthumous number-ones

text:
Otis Redding (d. December 10, 1967) – "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" (March 16, 1968)
Janis Joplin (d. October 4, 1970) – "Me and Bobby McGee" (March 20, 1971)
Jim Croce (d. September 20, 1973) – "Time in a Bottle" (December 29, 1973)
John Lennon (d. December 8, 1980) – "(Just Like) Starting Over" (December 27, 1980)
The Notorious B.I.G. (d. March 9, 1997) – "Hypnotize" (May 3, 1997) and "Mo Money Mo Problems" (August 30, 1997)
Soulja Slim (d. November 26, 2003) – "Slow Motion" (Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim) (August 7, 2004)
Static Major (d. February 25, 2008) – "Lollipop" (Lil Wayne featuring Static Major) (May 3, 2008)
XXXTentacion (d. June 18, 2018) – "Sad!" (June 30, 2018)

text: Age records

text:
Louis Armstrong (age 62 years, 279 days) is the oldest artist to top the Hot 100. He set that record with "Hello, Dolly!" on May 9, 1964.
Cher (age 52 years, 297 days) is the oldest female artist to top the Hot 100. She set the record with "Believe" on March 13, 1999.[139] The previous record holder was Grace Slick of Starship, who was 47 years, 156 days old when their hit "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" began its two-week reign on April 4, 1987.
Michael Jackson (age 11 years, 155 days) is the youngest artist to top the Hot 100. He achieved the record, as part of the Jackson 5, with "I Want You Back" on January 31, 1970.
Stevie Wonder (age 13 years, 89 days) is the youngest solo artist to top the Hot 100. He set the record with "Fingertips Pt. 2" on August 10, 1963.
Little Peggy March (age 15 years, 50 days) is the youngest female artist to top the Hot 100. The song which established this record for her was "I Will Follow Him", which reached #1 on April 27, 1963.
Fred Stobaugh (age 96 years, 23 days) is the oldest living artist to chart on the Hot 100. He was featured on the Green Shoe Studio song "Oh Sweet Lorriane", which ranked at #42 on September 14, 2013.[140] The previous record was held by Tony Bennett, who was 85 years, 59 days old when his song "Body and Soul", a duet with Amy Winehouse, ranked at #87 on October 1, 2011.
French-born Jordy Lemoine (age 5 years, 156 days) is the youngest artist to chart on the Hot 100. He established the record when his song "Dur dur d'être bébé! (It's Tough to Be a Baby)", where he is credited simply as Jordy, entered the chart on June 19, 1993.[141][142]
Asahd Khaled (age 132 days) is the youngest producer to chart on the Hot 100, as an executive producer for the album Grateful by DJ Khaled. The album's first single "Shining" featuring Jay-Z and Beyoncé entered the Hot 100 at #62 on March 4, 2017. He also became the youngest producer to earn a Hot 100 #1 (age 209 days) when the album's second single, "I'm the One" featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne, debuted atop the chart dated May 20, 2017.[143][144]

text: Gap records

text:
The longest gap between #1 hits on the Hot 100 for an artist is 24 years, 355 days by Cher. Her single "Believe" hit #1 on March 13, 1999, her first time on top since "Dark Lady" on March 23, 1974.[139][145]
Cher also holds the record gap between first and most recent #1 on the Hot 100 over the longest period of time: 33 years, 232 days. The first of three weeks at #1 for "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher was August 14, 1965. The last week at #1 for Cher's "Believe" was April 3, 1999.[145]
The record for the longest wait from an artist's Hot 100 debut entry to its first #1 belongs to Santana, with 30 years between the time he first cracked the Hot 100 with "Jingo" (October 25, 1969) and the first of 12 weeks at #1 with "Smooth," featuring Rob Thomas (October 23, 1999).[146]
When "4th Dimension" by Kids See Ghosts featuring Louis Prima debuted at #42 for the week of June 23, 2018,[147] Prima became the artist with the longest overall span of singles on the Hot 100 – 57 years, 130 days on account of his single "Wonderland by Night" which appeared at #89 on the Hot 100, dated February 13, 1961.

text: Album achievements

text: Most number-one singles from one album

text:
Number of Singles
Artist
Album
Year

5
Michael Jackson
Bad
1987

Katy Perry
Teenage Dream
2010

4
Various artists
Saturday Night Fever
1977

Whitney Houston
Whitney

1987

George Michael
Faith

Paula Abdul
Forever Your Girl
1988

Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
1989

Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
1990

Usher
Confessions
2004

text:
Saturday Night Fever generated number-one singles for two different artists: "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees; and "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman.
Katy Perry's Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection was a reissue of the Teenage Dream album, and featured an additional single, "Part Of Me", which peaked at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. This brings her actual total to six. However, this does not count since the single comes from a reissue of the album and not the original release.[149]

text: Most top ten singles from one album

text:
Number of singles
Artist
Album
Year

7
Michael Jackson
Thriller
1982

Bruce Springsteen
Born in the U.S.A.
1984

Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
1989

Drake
Scorpion
2018

6
Michael Jackson
Bad

1987

George Michael
Faith

Janet Jackson
Janet.
1993

Katy Perry
Teenage Dream
2010

5
Lionel Richie
Can't Slow Down
1983

Janet Jackson
Control

1986

Genesis
Invisible Touch

Madonna
True Blue

Huey Lewis and the News
Fore!

Whitney Houston
Whitney
1987

Paula Abdul
Forever Your Girl

1988

Bobby Brown
Don't Be Cruel

New Kids on the Block
Hangin' Tough

Bon Jovi
New Jersey

Milli Vanilli
Girl You Know It's True
1989

Various artists †
Waiting to Exhale
1995

Usher
Confessions
2004

Fergie
The Dutchess
2006

The Black Eyed Peas
The E.N.D.
2009

Taylor Swift

1989
2014

text: † Waiting to Exhale generated top ten singles for five different artists: "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" and "Count on Me" by Whitney Houston (the latter with CeCe Winans), "Not Gon' Cry" by Mary J. Blige, "Sittin' Up in My Room" by Brandy, and "Let It Flow" by Toni Braxton.

text: Other album achievements

text:
Janet Jackson's Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 has the most top 5 singles, with 7.[152]
Janet Jackson has the most albums with five or more Top 10 hits. Those albums are Control, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, and janet.[153]

text: Drake's Scorpion places a record-breaking ALL 25 songs listed in the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, on the July 14, 2018 chart, while he still have two more songs entried,[154] eclipsing his previous record of 22 from his album More Life about one year earlier, on April 8, 2017[155], and 18 from his album Views two year earlier, on May 21, 2016.[156]

text: NOTE: Numbers listed here are, per Billboard's rules,[157] over one release.

text: Producer achievements

text: Producers with the most number-one singles

text:
Number of singles

Producer(s)

Best known producing for

Biggest number-one hit and date

23

George Martin

The Beatles

"Hey Jude"[158] (September 28, 1968)

22

Max Martin

Britney Spears, Katy Perry,  Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Taylor Swift

"Dark Horse"[159] (February 8, 2014)

16

Steve Sholes †

Elvis Presley

"Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel"  (August 18, 1956)

Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis

Janet Jackson

"Miss You Much"[68](October 7, 1989)

Dr. Luke

Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson,  Kesha, Miley Cyrus

"Tik Tok"[160](January 2, 2010)

14

Barry Gibb

Bee Gees, Andy Gibb

"How Deep Is Your Love"[160](December 24, 1977)

Mariah Carey

Herself

"We Belong Together"[160](June 4, 2005)

text: † Pre-Hot 100 charts and Hot 100

text: Songwriter achievements

text: Songwriters with the most number-one singles

text:
Number of singles

Songwriter

Best known writing for

Biggest number-one hit and date

32

Paul McCartney

The Beatles

"Hey Jude"[158] (September 28, 1968)

26

John Lennon

22

Max Martin

Katy Perry, Britney Spears,  Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Taylor Swift

"Dark Horse"[159] (February 8, 2014)

17

Mariah Carey

Herself

"We Belong Together"[166] (June 4, 2005)

16

Barry Gibb

Bee Gees, Andy Gibb

"How Deep Is Your Love"[167] (December 24, 1977)

Dr. Luke

Katy Perry, Kesha, Miley Cyrus

"Tik Tok"  (January 2, 2010)

text:
Number of singles

Songwriter(s)

Year

Number-one hits (in chronological order)

7

John Lennon Paul McCartney

1964

The Beatles – "I Want to Hold Your Hand"†,  "She Loves You"†,  "Can't Buy Me Love"†,  "Love Me Do" Peter and Gordon – "A World Without Love" The Beatles – "A Hard Day's Night", "I Feel Fine"†††

Barry Gibb ††

1978

Bee Gees – "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive"†  Andy Gibb – "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water"†  Bee Gees – "Night Fever"†  Yvonne Elliman – "If I Can't Have You"†  Andy Gibb – "Shadow Dancing"  Frankie Valli – "Grease"

5

Lamont Dozier Brian Holland Eddie Holland

1965

The Supremes – "Come See About Me", "Stop! In the Name of Love", "Back in My Arms Again"† Four Tops – "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)"† The Supremes – "I Hear a Symphony"

John Lennon ††† Paul McCartney †††

1965

The Beatles – "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday" †††

Robin Gibb Maurice Gibb

1978

Bee Gees – "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever"†  Yvonne Elliman – "If I Can't Have You"†  Andy Gibb – "Shadow Dancing"

text:
† Chronologically sequential, replacing each other at #1
†† Holds all-time record of writing the most consecutively charted (self-replacing) #1 songs on the Hot 100, with 4.
††† Hold all-time record of writing the most consecutive #1 A-side singles, with 6. Record includes these five 1965 A-sides and "We Can Work It Out", which hit #1 in January 1966.

text: Selected additional Hot 100 achievements

text:
The first #1 song on the Hot 100 was "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson (August 4, 1958).
The #1 song in the first week Billboard incorporated sales and airplay data from Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems was "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" by P.M. Dawn (November 30, 1991).
The #1 song in the first week Billboard allowed songs without a commercial single release to chart on the Hot 100 was "I'm Your Angel" by R. Kelly and Céline Dion (December 5, 1998). Though the song was making its first appearance on the Hot 100 that week, Billboard did not consider it a debut at #1, since it appeared on unpublished test charts prior to the allowance of airplay-only songs on the main chart.[171] "I'm Your Angel" also entered the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart that week at #1,[172] so it would have been ineligible to chart on the Hot 100 before then.
The first "airplay-only" song to reach #1 (no points from a commercial single release) was "Try Again" by Aaliyah (June 17, 2000).
Drake holds the record for the most entries in the Hot 100 during a one-week period, with 27 on the July 14, 2018 chart.[173] The Beatles had long held this record, occupying 14 positions on the Hot 100 dated April 11, 1964, a feat unmatched for nearly 51 years. On March 7, 2015, Drake tied the Beatles mark,[174] and he equaled it again on October 17 that year.[156] Justin Bieber then reset the record to 17 on December 5, 2015,[175] before Drake reclaimed the record with 20 on May 21, 2016, and broke his own record with 27 on July 14, 2018.[156][176]
Drake also holds the record for the most debuting entries on a Hot 100 chart by any artist, with 22 on July 14, 2018.[173]
Cardi B is the record-holder among female artists for the most simultaneous entries in the Hot 100, with 13 on the April 21, 2018 chart.[177]
The Beatles are the only artists to simultaneously hold the top 2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and Billboard 200 albums chart. They achieved this feat for nine consecutive weeks, from February 29, 1964, to April 25, 1964. For the first five weeks of that run, through March 28, 1964, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" were the #1 and #2 singles (which swapped positions during March 1964), while Meet the Beatles! and Introducing... The Beatles held the top 2 spots on the albums charts. For the remaining weeks of the run, "Can't Buy Me Love" and their cover of "Twist and Shout" were the #1 and #2 singles, while Meet the Beatles! and Introducing... The Beatles continued their reign as the top 2 albums.[178][179]
Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney hold the record of writing all of the Top 3 singles for one week. The Gibbs co-wrote the top 3 singles for the week of March 18, 1978 – #1 "Night Fever" and #2 "Stayin' Alive" for the Bee Gees, and #3 "Emotion" for Samantha Sang. Lennon and McCartney co-wrote the top 3 singles for the week of March 14, 1964 – #1 "I Want to Hold Your Hand", #2 "She Loves You", and #3 "Please Please Me", all for The Beatles. They continued this record the following week of March 21, 1964, when "She Loves You" switched places with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
The Black Eyed Peas hold the record for the longest uninterrupted time at #1 on the Hot 100, a total of 26 consecutive weeks from April to October 2009. "Boom Boom Pow" spent the first 12 weeks on top, with "I Gotta Feeling" taking over for the remaining 14 weeks.[180] Prior to August 2009, Usher held this record, spending 19 consecutive weeks on top of the chart in 2004 with "Yeah!" (12 weeks at #1) and "Burn" (first 7 of its 8 total weeks at #1).[181]
On December 4, 2010, Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)" reached the top spot two weeks after "What's My Name?", becoming the first time in Hot 100 history that an album's debut single hit #1 after the second single did.[182]
Ed Sheeran became the first artist to debut more than one song in the top 10 for the same week. On the chart dated January 28, 2017, "Shape of You" debuted at #1, while "Castle on the Hill" entered at #6.[183] Drake later achieved this feat on three separate occasions, doing so on April 8, 2017,[155] February 3, 2018, [184] and July 14, 2018.[185] In the latter week, Drake broke the record by debuting four songs in the top 10.
Drake is the only artist to have a number-one debut replace another number-one debut. He did this April 21, 2018, when "Nice For What" replaced "God's Plan" at the summit, after the latter had spent eleven weeks on top.[186]
Drake holds the record for being on the Hot 100 for the most consecutive weeks. He placed at least one song, either in a lead or featured role, on every chart from his debut on May 23, 2009, to August 19, 2017, for a total of 431 weeks in a row.[187]
Ariana Grande is the only artist to have the lead single from each of her first four albums debut in the Hot 100's top 10.[125]
On July 14, 2018, Drake set the record for the most songs in the top ten at once, with seven. The Beatles had previously held the record, since 1964, with five entries.[91]


document_title: Milky Way

question_text: what are the clouds in the milky way

question_tokens: what are the clouds in the milky way

root

text: Milky Way

text: Appearance

text: The "Milky Way" can be seen as a hazy band of white light some 30 degrees wide arcing across the sky.[39] Although all the individual naked-eye stars in the entire sky are part of the Milky Way,[40][41] the light in this band originates from the accumulation of unresolved stars and other material located in the direction of the galactic plane. Dark regions within the band, such as the Great Rift and the Coalsack, are areas where light from distant stars is blocked by interstellar dust. The area of the sky obscured by the Milky Way is called the Zone of Avoidance.

tag: p

text: The Milky Way has a relatively low surface brightness. Its visibility can be greatly reduced by background light such as light pollution or stray light from the Moon. The sky needs to be darker than about 20.2 magnitude per square arcsecond in order for the Milky Way to be seen.[42] It should be visible when the limiting magnitude is approximately +5.1 or better and shows a great deal of detail at +6.1.[43] This makes the Milky Way difficult to see from any brightly lit urban or suburban location, but very prominent when viewed from a rural area when the Moon is below the horizon.[nb 2] The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness shows that more than one-third of Earth's population cannot see the Milky Way from their homes due to light pollution.[44]

text: As viewed from Earth, the visible region of the Milky Way's Galactic plane occupies an area of the sky that includes 30 constellations.[45] The center of the Galaxy lies in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius; it is here that the Milky Way is brightest. From Sagittarius, the hazy band of white light appears to pass around to the Galactic anticenter in Auriga. The band then continues the rest of the way around the sky, back to Sagittarius. The band divides the night sky into two roughly equal hemispheres.

text: The Galactic plane is inclined by about 60 degrees to the ecliptic (the plane of Earth's orbit). Relative to the celestial equator, it passes as far north as the constellation of Cassiopeia and as far south as the constellation of Crux, indicating the high inclination of Earth’s equatorial plane and the plane of the ecliptic, relative to the Galactic plane. The north Galactic pole is situated at right ascension 12h 49m, declination +27.4° (B1950) near β Comae Berenices, and the south Galactic pole is near α Sculptoris. Because of this high inclination, depending on the time of night and year, the arc of the Milky Way may appear relatively low or relatively high in the sky. For observers from approximately 65 degrees north to 65 degrees south on Earth's surface, the Milky Way passes directly overhead twice a day.

text: Size and mass

text: The Milky Way is the second-largest galaxy in the Local Group, with its stellar disk approximately 100,000 ly (30 kpc) in diameter, and, on average, approximately 1,000 ly (0.3 kpc) thick.[4][5] As a guide to the relative physical scale of the Milky Way, if the Solar System out to Neptune were the size of a US quarter (24.3 mm (0.955 in)), the Milky Way would be approximately the size of the continental United States.[46] A ring-like filament of stars wrapping around the Milky Way may belong to the Milky Way itself, rippling above and below the relatively flat galactic plane.[31] If so, that would mean a diameter of 150,000–180,000 light-years (46–55 kpc).[47]

text: Estimates of the mass of the Milky Way vary, depending upon the method and data used. At the low end of the estimate range, the mass of the Milky Way is 5.8×1011 solar masses (M☉), somewhat less than that of the Andromeda Galaxy.[48][49][50] Measurements using the Very Long Baseline Array in 2009 found velocities as large as 254 km/s (570,000 mph) for stars at the outer edge of the Milky Way.[51] Because the orbital velocity depends on the total mass inside the orbital radius, this suggests that the Milky Way is more massive, roughly equaling the mass of Andromeda Galaxy at 7×1011 M☉ within 160,000 ly (49 kpc) of its center.[52] In 2010, a measurement of the radial velocity of halo stars found that the mass enclosed within 80 kiloparsecs is 7×1011 M☉.[53] According to a study published in 2014, the mass of the entire Milky Way is estimated to be 8.5×1011 M☉,[54] which is about half the mass of the Andromeda Galaxy.[54]

text: Much of the mass of the Milky Way appears to be dark matter, an unknown and invisible form of matter that interacts gravitationally with ordinary matter. A dark matter halo is spread out relatively uniformly to a distance beyond one hundred kiloparsecs from the Galactic Center. Mathematical models of the Milky Way suggest that the mass of dark matter is 1–1.5×1012 M☉.[10][11][55] Recent studies indicate a range in mass, as large as 4.5×1012 M☉ [56] and as small as 8×1011 M☉.[57]

text: The total mass of all the stars in the Milky Way is estimated to be between 4.6×1010 M☉[58] and 6.43×1010 M☉.[10] In addition to the stars, there is also interstellar gas, comprising 90% hydrogen and 10% helium by mass,[59] with two thirds of the hydrogen found in the atomic form and the remaining one-third as molecular hydrogen.[60] The mass of this gas is equal to between 10%[60] and 15%[59] of the total mass of the galaxy's stars. Interstellar dust accounts for an additional 1% of the total mass of the gas.[59]

text: Contents

text: The Milky Way contains between 200 and 400 billion stars[61][62] and at least 100 billion planets.[63] The exact figure depends on the number of very-low-mass stars, which are hard to detect, especially at distances of more than 300 ly (90 pc) from the Sun. As a comparison, the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy contains an estimated one trillion (1012) stars.[64] Filling the space between the stars is a disk of gas and dust called the interstellar medium. This disk has at least a comparable extent in radius to the stars,[65] whereas the thickness of the gas layer ranges from hundreds of light years for the colder gas to thousands of light years for warmer gas.[66][67]

text: The disk of stars in the Milky Way does not have a sharp edge beyond which there are no stars. Rather, the concentration of stars decreases with distance from the center of the Milky Way. For reasons that are not understood, beyond a radius of roughly 40,000 ly (13 kpc) from the center, the number of stars per cubic parsec drops much faster with radius.[68] Surrounding the galactic disk is a spherical Galactic Halo of stars and globular clusters that extends further outward but is limited in size by the orbits of two Milky Way satellites, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, whose closest approach to the Galactic Center is about 180,000 ly (55 kpc).[69] At this distance or beyond, the orbits of most halo objects would be disrupted by the Magellanic Clouds. Hence, such objects would probably be ejected from the vicinity of the Milky Way. The integrated absolute visual magnitude of the Milky Way is estimated to be around −20.9.[70][71][a]

text: Both gravitational microlensing and planetary transit observations indicate that there may be at least as many planets bound to stars as there are stars in the Milky Way,[34][72] and microlensing measurements indicate that there are more rogue planets not bound to host stars than there are stars.[73][74] The Milky Way contains at least one planet per star, resulting in 100–400 billion planets, according to a January 2013 study of the five-planet star system Kepler-32 with the Kepler space observatory.[35] A different January 2013 analysis of Kepler data estimated that at least 17 billion Earth-sized exoplanets reside in the Milky Way.[75] On November 4, 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarfs within the Milky Way.[76][77][78] 11 billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting Sun-like stars.[79] The nearest such planet may be 4.2 light-years away, according to a 2016 study.[80] Such Earth-sized planets may be more numerous than gas giants.[34] Besides exoplanets, "exocomets", comets beyond the Solar System, have also been detected and may be common in the Milky Way.[81]

text: 360-degree panorama view of the Milky Way (an assembled mosaic of photographs) by ESO. The galactic centre is in the middle of the view, with galactic north up.

tag: ul

text: Structure

text: The Milky Way consists of a bar-shaped core region surrounded by a disk of gas, dust and stars. The mass distribution within the Milky Way closely resembles the type Sbc in the Hubble classification, which represents spiral galaxies with relatively loosely wound arms.[1] Astronomers began to suspect that the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, rather than an ordinary spiral galaxy, in the 1990s.[84] Their suspicions were confirmed by the Spitzer Space Telescope observations in 2005[85] that showed the Milky Way's central bar to be larger than previously thought.

text: Galactic quadrants

text: A galactic quadrant, or quadrant of the Milky Way, refers to one of four circular sectors in the division of the Milky Way. In actual astronomical practice, the delineation of the galactic quadrants is based upon the galactic coordinate system, which places the Sun as the origin of the mapping system.[86]

text: Quadrants are described using ordinals—for example, "1st galactic quadrant",[87] "second galactic quadrant",[88] or "third quadrant of the Milky Way".[89] Viewing from the north galactic pole with 0 degrees (°) as the ray that runs starting from the Sun and through the Galactic Center, the quadrants are as follows:

text:
1st galactic quadrant – 0° ≤ longitude (ℓ) ≤ 90°[90]
2nd galactic quadrant – 90° ≤ ℓ ≤ 180°[88]
3rd galactic quadrant – 180° ≤ ℓ ≤ 270°[89]
4th galactic quadrant – 270° ≤ ℓ ≤ 360° (0°)[87]

text: Galactic Center

text: The Sun is 25,000–28,000 ly (7.7–8.6 kpc) from the Galactic Center. This value is estimated using geometric-based methods or by measuring selected astronomical objects that serve as standard candles, with different techniques yielding various values within this approximate range.[15][16][17][91][92][93] In the inner few kpc (around 10,000 light-years radius) is a dense concentration of mostly old stars in a roughly spheroidal shape called the bulge.[94] It has been proposed that the Milky Way lacks a bulge formed due to a collision and merger between previous galaxies, and that instead it has a pseudobulge formed by its central bar.[95]

text: The Galactic Center is marked by an intense radio source named Sagittarius A* (pronounced Sagittarius A-star). The motion of material around the center indicates that Sagittarius A* harbors a massive, compact object.[96] This concentration of mass is best explained as a supermassive black hole[nb 3][15][97] (SMBH) with an estimated mass of 4.1–4.5 million times the mass of the Sun.[97] The rate of accretion of the SMBH is consistent with an inactive galactic nucleus, being estimated at around 6995100000000000000♠1×10−5 M☉ y−1.[98] Observations indicate that there are SMBH located near the center of most normal galaxies.[99][100]

text: The nature of the Milky Way's bar is actively debated, with estimates for its half-length and orientation spanning from 1 to 5 kpc (3,000–16,000 ly) and 10–50 degrees relative to the line of sight from Earth to the Galactic Center.[92][93][101] Certain authors advocate that the Milky Way features two distinct bars, one nestled within the other.[102] However, RR Lyrae variables do not trace a prominent Galactic bar.[93][103][104] The bar may be surrounded by a ring called the "5-kpc ring" that contains a large fraction of the molecular hydrogen present in the Milky Way, as well as most of the Milky Way's star formation activity. Viewed from the Andromeda Galaxy, it would be the brightest feature of the Milky Way.[105] X-ray emission from the core is aligned with the massive stars surrounding the central bar[98] and the Galactic ridge.[106]

text: In 2010, two gigantic spherical bubbles of high energy emission were detected to the north and the south of the Milky Way core, using data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The diameter of each of the bubbles is about 25,000 light-years (7.7 kpc); they stretch up to Grus and to Virgo on the night-sky of the southern hemisphere.[107][108] Subsequently, observations with the Parkes Telescope at radio frequencies identified polarized emission that is associated with the Fermi bubbles. These observations are best interpreted as a magnetized outflow driven by star formation in the central 640 ly (200 pc) of the Milky Way.[109]

text: Later, on January 5, 2015, NASA reported observing an X-ray flare 400 times brighter than usual, a record-breaker, from Sagittarius A*. The unusual event may have been caused by the breaking apart of an asteroid falling into the black hole or by the entanglement of magnetic field lines within gas flowing into Sagittarius A*.[83]

text: Spiral arms

text: Outside the gravitational influence of the Galactic bars, the structure of the interstellar medium and stars in the disk of the Milky Way is organized into four spiral arms.[110] Spiral arms typically contain a higher density of interstellar gas and dust than the Galactic average as well as a greater concentration of star formation, as traced by H II regions[111][112] and molecular clouds.[113]

text: The Milky Way's spiral structure is uncertain, and there is currently no consensus on the nature of the Milky Way's spiral arms.[82] Perfect logarithmic spiral patterns only crudely describe features near the Sun,[112][114] because galaxies commonly have arms that branch, merge, twist unexpectedly, and feature a degree of irregularity.[93][114][115] The possible scenario of the Sun within a spur / Local arm[112] emphasizes that point and indicates that such features are probably not unique, and exist elsewhere in the Milky Way.[114] Estimates of the pitch angle of the arms range from about 7° to 25°.[65][116] There are thought to be four spiral arms that all start near the Milky Way's center.[117] These are named as follows, with the positions of the arms shown in the image at right:

text:
Color
Arm(s)

cyan
3-kpc Arm (Near 3 kpc Arm and Far 3 kpc Arm) and Perseus Arm

purple
Norma and Outer arm (Along with extension discovered in 2004[118])

green
Scutum–Centaurus Arm

pink
Carina–Sagittarius Arm

There are at least two smaller arms or spurs, including:

orange
Orion–Cygnus Arm (which contains the Sun and Solar System)

tag: table

text: Two spiral arms, the Scutum–Centaurus arm and the Carina–Sagittarius arm, have tangent points inside the Sun's orbit about the center of the Milky Way. If these arms contain an overdensity of stars compared to the average density of stars in the Galactic disk, it would be detectable by counting the stars near the tangent point. Two surveys of near-infrared light, which is sensitive primarily to red giants and not affected by dust extinction, detected the predicted overabundance in the Scutum–Centaurus arm but not in the Carina–Sagittarius arm: the Scutum-Centaurus Arm contains approximately 30% more red giants than would be expected in the absence of a spiral arm.[116][119] This observation suggests that the Milky Way possesses only two major stellar arms: the Perseus arm and the Scutum–Centaurus arm. The rest of the arms contain excess gas but not excess old stars.[82] In December 2013, astronomers found that the distribution of young stars and star-forming regions matches the four-arm spiral description of the Milky Way.[120][121][122] Thus, the Milky Way appears to have two spiral arms as traced by old stars and four spiral arms as traced by gas and young stars. The explanation for this apparent discrepancy is unclear.[122]

text: The Near 3 kpc Arm (also called Expanding 3 kpc Arm or simply 3 kpc Arm) was discovered in the 1950s by astronomer van Woerden and collaborators through 21-centimeter radio measurements of HI (atomic hydrogen).[123][124] It was found to be expanding away from the central bulge at more than 50 km/s. It is located in the fourth galactic quadrant at a distance of about 5.2 kpc from the Sun and 3.3 kpc from the Galactic Center. The Far 3 kpc Arm was discovered in 2008 by astronomer Tom Dame (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA). It is located in the first galactic quadrant at a distance of 3 kpc (about 10,000 ly) from the Galactic Center.[124][125]

text: A simulation published in 2011 suggested that the Milky Way may have obtained its spiral arm structure as a result of repeated collisions with the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy.[126]

text: It has been suggested that the Milky Way contains two different spiral patterns: an inner one, formed by the Sagittarius arm, that rotates fast and an outer one, formed by the Carina and Perseus arms, whose rotation velocity is slower and whose arms are tightly wound. In this scenario, suggested by numerical simulations of the dynamics of the different spiral arms, the outer pattern would form an outer pseudoring,[127] and the two patterns would be connected by the Cygnus arm.[128]

text: Outside of the major spiral arms is the Monoceros Ring (or Outer Ring), a ring of gas and stars torn from other galaxies billions of years ago. However, several members of the scientific community recently restated their position affirming the Monoceros structure is nothing more than an over-density produced by the flared and warped thick disk of the Milky Way.[129]

text: Halo

text: The Galactic disk is surrounded by a spheroidal halo of old stars and globular clusters, of which 90% lie within 100,000 light-years (30 kpc) of the Galactic Center.[130] However, a few globular clusters have been found farther, such as PAL 4 and AM1 at more than 200,000 light-years from the Galactic Center. About 40% of the Milky Way's clusters are on retrograde orbits, which means they move in the opposite direction from the Milky Way rotation.[131] The globular clusters can follow rosette orbits about the Milky Way, in contrast to the elliptical orbit of a planet around a star.[132]

text: Although the disk contains dust that obscures the view in some wavelengths, the halo component does not. Active star formation takes place in the disk (especially in the spiral arms, which represent areas of high density), but does not take place in the halo, as there is little gas cool enough to collapse into stars.[18] Open clusters are also located primarily in the disk.[133]

text: Discoveries in the early 21st century have added dimension to the knowledge of the Milky Way's structure. With the discovery that the disk of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) extends much further than previously thought,[134] the possibility of the disk of the Milky Way extending further is apparent, and this is supported by evidence from the discovery of the Outer Arm extension of the Cygnus Arm[118][135] and of a similar extension of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm.[136] With the discovery of the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy came the discovery of a ribbon of galactic debris as the polar orbit of the dwarf and its interaction with the Milky Way tears it apart. Similarly, with the discovery of the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, it was found that a ring of galactic debris from its interaction with the Milky Way encircles the Galactic disk.

text: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey of the northern sky shows a huge and diffuse structure (spread out across an area around 5,000 times the size of a full moon) within the Milky Way that does not seem to fit within current models. The collection of stars rises close to perpendicular to the plane of the spiral arms of the Milky Way. The proposed likely interpretation is that a dwarf galaxy is merging with the Milky Way. This galaxy is tentatively named the Virgo Stellar Stream and is found in the direction of Virgo about 30,000 light-years (9 kpc) away.[137]

text: Gaseous halo

text: In addition to the stellar halo, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku have provided evidence that there is a gaseous halo with a large amount of hot gas. The halo extends for hundreds of thousand of light years, much further than the stellar halo and close to the distance of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The mass of this hot halo is nearly equivalent to the mass of the Milky Way itself.[138][139][140] The temperature of this halo gas is between 1 and 2.5 million K (1.8 and 4.5 million oF).[141]

text: Observations of distant galaxies indicate that the Universe had about one-sixth as much baryonic (ordinary) matter as dark matter when it was just a few billion years old. However, only about half of those baryons are accounted for in the modern Universe based on observations of nearby galaxies like the Milky Way.[142] If the finding that the mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of the Milky Way is confirmed, it could be the identity of the missing baryons around the Milky Way.[142]

text: Sun’s location and neighborhood

text: The Sun is near the inner rim of the Orion Arm, within the Local Fluff of the Local Bubble, and in the Gould Belt, at a distance of 26.4 ± 1.0 kly (8.09 ± 0.31 kpc)[15][16][17] from the Galactic Center. The Sun is currently 5–30 parsecs (16–98 ly) from the central plane of the Galactic disk.[143] The distance between the local arm and the next arm out, the Perseus Arm, is about 2,000 parsecs (6,500 ly).[144] The Sun, and thus the Solar System, is located in the Milky Way's galactic habitable zone.

text: There are about 208 stars brighter than absolute magnitude 8.5 within a sphere with a radius of 15 parsecs (49 ly) from the Sun, giving a density of one star per 69 cubic parsecs, or one star per 2,360 cubic light-years (from List of nearest bright stars). On the other hand, there are 64 known stars (of any magnitude, not counting 4 brown dwarfs) within 5 parsecs (16 ly) of the Sun, giving a density of about one star per 8.2 cubic parsecs, or one per 284 cubic light-years (from List of nearest stars). This illustrates the fact that there are far more faint stars than bright stars: in the entire sky, there are about 500 stars brighter than apparent magnitude 4 but 15.5 million stars brighter than apparent magnitude 14.[145]

text: The apex of the Sun's way, or the solar apex, is the direction that the Sun travels through space in the Milky Way. The general direction of the Sun's Galactic motion is towards the star Vega near the constellation of Hercules, at an angle of roughly 60 sky degrees to the direction of the Galactic Center. The Sun's orbit about the Milky Way is expected to be roughly elliptical with the addition of perturbations due to the Galactic spiral arms and non-uniform mass distributions. In addition, the Sun passes through the Galactic plane approximately 2.7 times per orbit.[146] This is very similar to how a simple harmonic oscillator works with no drag force (damping) term. These oscillations were until recently thought to coincide with mass lifeform extinction periods on Earth.[147] However, a reanalysis of the effects of the Sun's transit through the spiral structure based on CO data has failed to find a correlation.[148]

text: It takes the Solar System about 240 million years to complete one orbit of the Milky Way (a galactic year),[18] so the Sun is thought to have completed 18–20 orbits during its lifetime and 1/1250 of a revolution since the origin of humans. The orbital speed of the Solar System about the center of the Milky Way is approximately 220 km/s (490,000 mph) or 0.073% of the speed of light. The Sun moves through the heliosphere at 84,000 km/h (52,000 mph). At this speed, it takes around 1,400 years for the Solar System to travel a distance of 1 light-year, or 8 days to travel 1 AU (astronomical unit).[149] The Solar System is headed in the direction of the zodiacal constellation Scorpius, which follows the ecliptic.[150]

text: Galactic rotation

text: The stars and gas in the Milky Way rotate about its center differentially, meaning that the rotation period varies with location. As is typical for spiral galaxies, the orbital speed of most stars in the Milky Way does not depend strongly on their distance from the center. Away from the central bulge or outer rim, the typical stellar orbital speed is between 210 and 240 km/s (470,000 and 540,000 mph).[153] Hence the orbital period of the typical star is directly proportional only to the length of the path traveled. This is unlike the situation within the Solar System, where two-body gravitational dynamics dominate, and different orbits have significantly different velocities associated with them. The rotation curve (shown in the figure) describes this rotation. Toward the center of the Milky Way the orbit speeds are too low, whereas beyond 7 kpcs the speeds are too high to match what would be expected from the universal law of gravitation.

text: If the Milky Way contained only the mass observed in stars, gas, and other baryonic (ordinary) matter, the rotation speed would decrease with distance from the center. However, the observed curve is relatively flat, indicating that there is additional mass that cannot be detected directly with electromagnetic radiation. This inconsistency is attributed to dark matter.[36] The rotation curve of the Milky Way agrees with the universal rotation curve of spiral galaxies, the best evidence for the existence of dark matter in galaxies. Alternatively, a minority of astronomers propose that a modification of the law of gravity may explain the observed rotation curve.[154]

text: Formation

text: The Milky Way began as one or several small overdensities in the mass distribution in the Universe shortly after the Big Bang.[155] Some of these overdensities were the seeds of globular clusters in which the oldest remaining stars in what is now the Milky Way formed. Nearly half the matter in the Milky Way may have come from other distant galaxies.[155] Nonetheless, these stars and clusters now comprise the stellar halo of the Milky Way. Within a few billion years of the birth of the first stars, the mass of the Milky Way was large enough so that it was spinning relatively quickly. Due to conservation of angular momentum, this led the gaseous interstellar medium to collapse from a roughly spheroidal shape to a disk. Therefore, later generations of stars formed in this spiral disk. Most younger stars, including the Sun, are observed to be in the disk.[156][157]

text: Since the first stars began to form, the Milky Way has grown through both galaxy mergers (particularly early in the Milky Way's growth) and accretion of gas directly from the Galactic halo.[157] The Milky Way is currently accreting material from two of its nearest satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, through the Magellanic Stream. Direct accretion of gas is observed in high-velocity clouds like the Smith Cloud.[158][159] However, properties of the Milky Way such as stellar mass, angular momentum, and metallicity in its outermost regions suggest it has undergone no mergers with large galaxies in the last 10 billion years. This lack of recent major mergers is unusual among similar spiral galaxies; its neighbour the Andromeda Galaxy appears to have a more typical history shaped by more recent mergers with relatively large galaxies.[160][161]

text: According to recent studies, the Milky Way as well as the Andromeda Galaxy lie in what in the galaxy color–magnitude diagram is known as the "green valley", a region populated by galaxies in transition from the "blue cloud" (galaxies actively forming new stars) to the "red sequence" (galaxies that lack star formation). Star-formation activity in green valley galaxies is slowing as they run out of star-forming gas in the interstellar medium. In simulated galaxies with similar properties, star formation will typically have been extinguished within about five billion years from now, even accounting for the expected, short-term increase in the rate of star formation due to the collision between both the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.[162] In fact, measurements of other galaxies similar to the Milky Way suggest it is among the reddest and brightest spiral galaxies that are still forming new stars and it is just slightly bluer than the bluest red sequence galaxies.[163]

text: Age and cosmological history

text: Globular clusters are among the oldest objects in the Milky Way, which thus set a lower limit on the age of the Milky Way. The ages of individual stars in the Milky Way can be estimated by measuring the abundance of long-lived radioactive elements such as thorium-232 and uranium-238, then comparing the results to estimates of their original abundance, a technique called nucleocosmochronology. These yield values of about 12.5 ± 3 billion years for CS 31082-001[165] and 13.8 ± 4 billion years for BD +17° 3248.[166] Once a white dwarf is formed, it begins to undergo radiative cooling and the surface temperature steadily drops. By measuring the temperatures of the coolest of these white dwarfs and comparing them to their expected initial temperature, an age estimate can be made. With this technique, the age of the globular cluster M4 was estimated as 12.7 ± 0.7 billion years. Age estimates of the oldest of these clusters gives a best fit estimate of 12.6 billion years, and a 95% confidence upper limit of 16 billion years.[167]

text: Several individual stars have been found in the Milky Way's halo with measured ages very close to the 13.80-billion-year age of the Universe. In 2007, a star in the galactic halo, HE 1523-0901, was estimated to be about 13.2 billion years old. As the oldest known object in the Milky Way at that time, this measurement placed a lower limit on the age of the Milky Way.[168] This estimate was made using the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph of the Very Large Telescope to measure the relative strengths of spectral lines caused by the presence of thorium and other elements created by the R-process. The line strengths yield abundances of different elemental isotopes, from which an estimate of the age of the star can be derived using nucleocosmochronology.[168] Another star, HD 140283, is 14.5 ± 0.7 billion years old.[9][169]

text: The age of stars in the galactic thin disk has also been estimated using nucleocosmochronology. Measurements of thin disk stars yield an estimate that the thin disk formed 8.8 ± 1.7 billion years ago. These measurements suggest there was a hiatus of almost 5 billion years between the formation of the galactic halo and the thin disk.[170] Recent analysis of the chemical signatures of thousands of stars suggests that stellar formation might have dropped by an order of magnitude at the time of disk formation, 10 to 8 billion years ago, when interstellar gas was too hot to form new stars at the same rate as before.[171]

text: The satellite galaxies surrounding the Milky way are not randomly distributed, but seemed to be the result of a break-up of some larger system producing a ring structure 500,000 light years in diameter and 50,000 light years wide.[172] Close encounters between galaxies, like that expected in 4 billion years with the Andromeda Galaxy rips off huge tails of gas, which, over time can coalesce to form dwarf galaxies in a ring at right angles to the main disc.[173]

text: Environment

text: The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are a binary system of giant spiral galaxies belonging to a group of 50 closely bound galaxies known as the Local Group, surrounded by a Local Void, itself being part of the Virgo Supercluster. Surrounding the Virgo Supercluster are a number of voids, devoid of many galaxies, the Microscopium Void to the "north", the Sculptor Void to the "left", the Bootes Void to the "right" and the Canes-Major Void to the South. These voids change shape over time, creating filamentous structures of galaxies. The Virgo Supercluster, for instance, is being drawn towards the Great Attractor,[174] which in turn forms part of a greater structure, called Laniakea.[175]

text: Two smaller galaxies and a number of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group orbit the Milky Way. The largest of these is the Large Magellanic Cloud with a diameter of 14,000 light-years. It has a close companion, the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Magellanic Stream is a stream of neutral hydrogen gas extending from these two small galaxies across 100° of the sky. The stream is thought to have been dragged from the Magellanic Clouds in tidal interactions with the Milky Way.[176] Some of the dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way are Canis Major Dwarf (the closest), Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, Ursa Minor Dwarf, Sculptor Dwarf, Sextans Dwarf, Fornax Dwarf, and Leo I Dwarf. The smallest dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way are only 500 light-years in diameter. These include Carina Dwarf, Draco Dwarf, and Leo II Dwarf. There may still be undetected dwarf galaxies that are dynamically bound to the Milky Way, which is supported by the detection of nine new satellites of the Milky Way in a relatively small patch of the night sky in 2015.[177] There are also some dwarf galaxies that have already been absorbed by the Milky Way, such as Omega Centauri.[178]

text: In 2014 researchers reported that most satellite galaxies of the Milky Way actually lie in a very large disk and orbit in the same direction.[179] This came as a surprise: according to standard cosmology, the satellite galaxies should form in dark matter halos, and they should be widely distributed and moving in random directions. This discrepancy is still not fully explained.[180]

text: In January 2006, researchers reported that the heretofore unexplained warp in the disk of the Milky Way has now been mapped and found to be a ripple or vibration set up by the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds as they orbit the Milky Way, causing vibrations when they pass through its edges. Previously, these two galaxies, at around 2% of the mass of the Milky Way, were considered too small to influence the Milky Way. However, in a computer model, the movement of these two galaxies creates a dark matter wake that amplifies their influence on the larger Milky Way.[181]

text: Current measurements suggest the Andromeda Galaxy is approaching us at 100 to 140 km/s (220,000 to 310,000 mph). In 3 to 4 billion years, there may be an Andromeda–Milky Way collision, depending on the importance of unknown lateral components to the galaxies' relative motion. If they collide, the chance of individual stars colliding with each other is extremely low, but instead the two galaxies will merge to form a single elliptical galaxy or perhaps a large disk galaxy[182] over the course of about a billion years.[183]

text: Velocity

text: Although special relativity states that there is no "preferred" inertial frame of reference in space with which to compare the Milky Way, the Milky Way does have a velocity with respect to cosmological frames of reference.

text: One such frame of reference is the Hubble flow, the apparent motions of galaxy clusters due to the expansion of space. Individual galaxies, including the Milky Way, have peculiar velocities relative to the average flow. Thus, to compare the Milky Way to the Hubble flow, one must consider a volume large enough so that the expansion of the Universe dominates over local, random motions. A large enough volume means that the mean motion of galaxies within this volume is equal to the Hubble flow. Astronomers believe the Milky Way is moving at approximately 630 km/s (1,400,000 mph) with respect to this local co-moving frame of reference.[184] The Milky Way is moving in the general direction of the Great Attractor and other galaxy clusters, including the Shapley supercluster, behind it.[185] The Local Group (a cluster of gravitationally bound galaxies containing, among others, the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy) is part of a supercluster called the Local Supercluster, centered near the Virgo Cluster: although they are moving away from each other at 967 km/s (2,160,000 mph) as part of the Hubble flow, this velocity is less than would be expected given the 16.8 million pc distance due to the gravitational attraction between the Local Group and the Virgo Cluster.[186]

text: Another reference frame is provided by the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The Milky Way is moving at 552 ± 6 km/s (1,235,000 ± 13,000 mph)[187] with respect to the photons of the CMB, toward 10.5 right ascension, −24° declination (J2000 epoch, near the center of Hydra). This motion is observed by satellites such as the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) as a dipole contribution to the CMB, as photons in equilibrium in the CMB frame get blue-shifted in the direction of the motion and red-shifted in the opposite direction.[187]

text: Etymology and mythology

text: In Babylonia, the Milky Way was said to be the tail of Tiamat, set in the sky by Marduk after he had slain the salt water goddess. It is believed this account, from the Enuma Elish had Marduk replace an earlier Sumerian story when Enlil of Nippur had slain the goddess.

text: Llys Dôn (literally "The Court of Dôn") is the traditional Welsh name for the constellation Cassiopeia. At least three of Dôn's children also have astronomical associations: Caer Gwydion ("The fortress of Gwydion") is the traditional Welsh name for the Milky Way, and Caer Arianrhod ("The Fortress of Arianrhod") being the constellation of Corona Borealis.

text: In western culture the name "Milky Way" is derived from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky. The term is a translation of the Classical Latin via lactea, in turn derived from the Hellenistic Greek γαλαξίας, short for γαλαξίας κύκλος (galaxías kýklos, "milky circle"). The Ancient Greek γαλαξίας (galaxias) – from root γαλακτ-, γάλα ("milk") + -ίας (forming adjectives) – is also the root of "galaxy", the name for our, and later all such, collections of stars.[25][188][189][190] In Greek mythology it was supposedly made from the forceful suckling of Heracles, when Hera acted as a wetnurse for the hero.

text: The Milky Way, or "milk circle", was just one of 11 "circles" the Greeks identified in the sky, others being the zodiac, the meridian, the horizon, the equator, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic circles, and two colure circles passing through both poles.[191]

text: Astronomical history

text: In Meteorologica (DK 59 A80), Aristotle (384–322 BC) wrote that the Greek philosophers Anaxagoras (c. 500–428 BC) and Democritus (460–370 BC) proposed that the Milky Way might consist of distant stars.[192] However, Aristotle himself believed the Milky Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars which were large, numerous and close together"[193] and that the "ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the world which is continuous with the heavenly motions."[194][195] The Neoplatonist philosopher Olympiodorus the Younger (c. 495–570 A.D.) criticized this view, arguing that if the Milky Way were sublunary, it should appear different at different times and places on Earth, and that it should have parallax, which it does not. In his view, the Milky Way is celestial. This idea would be influential later in the Islamic world.[196]

text: The Persian astronomer Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) proposed that the Milky Way is "a collection of countless fragments of the nature of nebulous stars".[197] The Andalusian astronomer Avempace (d 1138) proposed the Milky Way to be made up of many stars but appears to be a continuous image due to the effect of refraction in Earth's atmosphere, citing his observation of a conjunction of Jupiter and Mars in 1106 or 1107 as evidence.[195] Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) proposed that the Milky Way is "a myriad of tiny stars packed together in the sphere of the fixed stars" and that these stars are larger than planets.[198]

text: According to Jamil Ragep, the Persian astronomer Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (1201–1274) in his Tadhkira writes: "The Milky Way, i.e. the Galaxy, is made up of a very large number of small, tightly clustered stars, which, on account of their concentration and smallness, seem to be cloudy patches. Because of this, it was likened to milk in color."[199]

text: Actual proof of the Milky Way consisting of many stars came in 1610 when Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study the Milky Way and discovered that it is composed of a huge number of faint stars.[200][201] In a treatise in 1755, Immanuel Kant, drawing on earlier work by Thomas Wright,[202] speculated (correctly) that the Milky Way might be a rotating body of a huge number of stars, held together by gravitational forces akin to the Solar System but on much larger scales.[203] The resulting disk of stars would be seen as a band on the sky from our perspective inside the disk. Kant also conjectured that some of the nebulae visible in the night sky might be separate "galaxies" themselves, similar to our own. Kant referred to both the Milky Way and the "extragalactic nebulae" as "island universes", a term still current up to the 1930s.[204][205][206]

text: The first attempt to describe the shape of the Milky Way and the position of the Sun within it was carried out by William Herschel in 1785 by carefully counting the number of stars in different regions of the visible sky. He produced a diagram of the shape of the Milky Way with the Solar System close to the center.[207]

text: In 1845, Lord Rosse constructed a new telescope and was able to distinguish between elliptical and spiral-shaped nebulae. He also managed to make out individual point sources in some of these nebulae, lending credence to Kant's earlier conjecture.[208]

text: In 1917, Heber Curtis had observed the nova S Andromedae within the Great Andromeda Nebula (Messier object 31). Searching the photographic record, he found 11 more novae. Curtis noticed that these novae were, on average, 10 magnitudes fainter than those that occurred within the Milky Way. As a result, he was able to come up with a distance estimate of 150,000 parsecs. He became a proponent of the "island universes" hypothesis, which held that the spiral nebulae were actually independent galaxies.[209] In 1920 the Great Debate took place between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, concerning the nature of the Milky Way, spiral nebulae, and the dimensions of the Universe. To support his claim that the Great Andromeda Nebula is an external galaxy, Curtis noted the appearance of dark lanes resembling the dust clouds in the Milky Way, as well as the significant Doppler shift.[210]

text: The controversy was conclusively settled by Edwin Hubble in the early 1920s using the Mount Wilson observatory 2.5 m (100 in) Hooker telescope. With the light-gathering power of this new telescope, he was able to produce astronomical photographs that resolved the outer parts of some spiral nebulae as collections of individual stars. He was also able to identify some Cepheid variables that he could use as a benchmark to estimate the distance to the nebulae. He found that the Andromeda Nebula is 275,000 parsecs from the Sun, far too distant to be part of the Milky Way.[211][212]

text: Mapping

text: The ESA spacecraft Gaia provides distance estimates by determining the parallax of a billion stars and is mapping the Milky Way with four planned releases of maps in 2022.[213][214]